Officials blame Kurdish group for attack in Bingol province, which comes amid army operation in country's southeast.

Eight Turkish police officers have been killed and nine wounded in a blast in the Karliova district of Bingol province in southern Turkey, security officials say.

They said members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) launched the attack on Sunday as a police service bus was passing by.

Video posted on the Dogan News Agency website showed the mangled remains of a white minibus with blown-out windows that had been carrying the police.

The vehicle lay at a bend in a road, and ambulances and armored vehicles had gathered in the area as part of the rescue mission.

The latest attack comes amid an ongoing army operation in the southeast that has been concentrated in the Semdinli district in Hakkari province and has included nearly 5,000 ground troops, according to the Turkish military.